The Antioch Sequoit football team return to the field this season, coming off of winning three consecutive Northern Lake County Conference championships and hoping to make it to the state finals. With a number of returners and starters, the Sequoits have high expectations for the 2019 season.

“Our goal this year is to win a state championship,” junior Dino Kaliakmanis said. “Right now, we are focused on week one. We want to start the year off going 1-0. This will be a great playoff atmosphere type game.”

Despite Kaliakmanis’s optimism, their first game at Lake Forest didn’t end in a win. The back-and-forth battle ended 7-10 in favor of the home-team Scouts. Coming off of season-opening loss, there will be a lot of pressure for the Sequoits to bring home a win in their home opener.

“This game is going to be fun,” senior captain Ryan Shaputis said. “The atmosphere will be amazing. There is a lot of pressure this season for us. I feel like our team performs very well under pressure. ”

The Sequoits went 9-0 for the past three seasons and plan on doing it again. Although the Sequoits lost some of their senior starters from last year and didn’t take home the season-opening win, they still feel confident and ready to play.

“Our team is young this year having 11 starters graduate,” junior Max Ness said. “Our team is looking very confident and they look like they’re ready to play.”

The Sequoits look forward to leaving a good impression this season, hoping to not only bring home their fourth consecutive conference championship win, but also hopefully a state title.